Well, well: Thanks to you readers, some Galesburg students have learned a remarkable lesson in generosity.

Jack Dippold, a Peoria native and teacher at Nielson Elementary School in Galesburg, wanted to involve his fourth-grade class in a real-life demonstration of giving. So he challenged each student to raise one dollar — $25 total — which he’d match out of his own pocket. They planned to send the sum to Water Is Life (waterislife.com), a not-for-profit organization based in Oklahoma that provides clean drinking water to Third World countries. The $50 would buy five special straws that filter out impurities from well water in Africa and Haiti.

But the students didn’t like the limit of just a buck. Instead, they prodded relatives and scrounged for coins. Then they made appeals to classes in the school. A month ago, they’d raised $2,400.

They wanted to get to $5,900, which would pay for a well for an entire village. So students hit the streets to give presentations to civic groups.

And then their story hit here. Readers pitched in plenty.

“I can’t tell you how excited everyone has been about the article,” Dippold says. “It has garnered some serious response.”

As of this week, they’re at $8,730.

“That’s right!” Dippold says. “We have hit the well (mark) and are going for more. We are so excited, and I know it wouldn’t have been possible without (readers’) help. Thank you so much. It has meant a lot to these kids.”

Students plan to make one more civic-club presentation. They hope to reach $10,000.

And that would be great. It would be even greater — and this isn’t Dippold talking now; it’s me — if the total could hit $11,800. That would pay for two wells, which would save a lot of lives — and even further show kids how a spark of inspiration can really catch fire.

Want to help? Checks should be made out to Nielson Elementary School, with “Water is Life” written in the memo. Checks should be sent to Nielson Elementary School, 547 N. Farnham St., Galesburg, IL 61401.

Bidet bash? Perhaps it’s time to belly up to the bidet.

In an almost-serious expose of Germantown Hills bathroom habits, this space recently wondered why residents there were so crazy about disposable wipes. They’re clogging up the sanitary-sewer plant, forcing village overlords to beg citizens to lay off the wipes.

The French invented the device in the 1700s, giving it a name that means “small pony.” According to (I kid you not) properwash.com, “The straddling action that is required when using the bowl ... is similar to that of riding a pony.”

I don’t know if John Wayne ever used one, but bidets seem rather practical. Still, England looked askance at the bidet as immoral and risque: such cleansings could promote more intimacy, a decidedly non-British notion. So, the colonists didn’t bring any bidets with them.

Still, bidets have flourished elsewhere in the world. And now they’re finally catching on in America. According to a story late last year in the Wall Street Journal, 20 percent of single-family luxury homes built in 2012 included bidets. That was up from 12 percent in 2009.

The story says that you can invest a pretty penny on an upscale bidet. For instance, the Toto company’s Washlet S300e (apparently, top-line bidets have names like luxury cars) runs $16,000, but will “mist the bowl with electrolyzed water and continue to spray every eight hours to keep it clean. Flow options include a rear cleanse, front cleanse and rear soft cleanse — and all can be set to either oscillate or pulsate.”

The priciest seems to be the Nuni, by Kohler, which goes for almost $7,000: “The toilet’s auto flush adjusts depending on how long the user sits on the seat; it also senses the user’s presence and opens and closes its lid automatically.”

Or, you can spend $50 for a hand-held contraption at a discount store. It hooks up to the sink, but — seems to me — you might need some serious hand-eye-whatever coordination to avoid getting your bathroom floor all wet.

If that’s the case, you might be better off taking it outside. And there, Bubba, you already have a garden hose.

With ideas like this, who needs those silly disposable wipes?

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano, 686-3155 or (800) 225- 5757, Ext. 3155. Follow him on Twitter @LucianoPhil.